Unlikeable Lead characters

[BarbaricGoose]

As soon as I read the thread title, the words "NATHAN DRAKE" began to endlessly and uncontrollably repeat in my head. It's still going.

EDIT: I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the games. Some of my favorites. But it's hard to deny that Nathan Drake is a GIANT DOUCHEBAG.

How is he a douchebag? Maybe the half shirt tuck is a little douchey, but that's really all I can think of. I'm genuinely curious why he came across as a douche to you.

Anyway... I hated every single character in FFXIII. Despised every single one of 'em. and their names. I hated their names, too.

 

[Wanderer787]

I know thats supposed to be his thing, the brooding hero, but he never displays a single iota of emotion.

Fenix feels emotion, it's just all anger all the time. Which is part of the reason I won't be getting Gears 3.

On topic, I really didn't like Alex Denton as a character. That was Invisible War's main drawback for me when I first played it, having not played the first at the time. And for the record, Invisible War wasn't a bad game, it just had the misfortune to be made after the first Deus Ex.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Neku from The World Ends With You, Marcus from Gears of War, Kratos from God of War, Squall from FF8, Vaan in FF12, Lightning in FF13, Drake fro Uncharted, and Shion in Xenosaga. All of these characters are not only irritating in one way or another, but they're also universally shallow.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

As soon as I read the thread title, the words "NATHAN DRAKE" began to endlessly and uncontrollably repeat in my head. It's still going.

EDIT: I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the games. Some of my favorites. But it's hard to deny that Nathan Drake is a GIANT DOUCHEBAG.

How is he a douchebag? Maybe the half shirt tuck is a little douchey, but that's really all I can think of. I'm genuinely curious why he came across as a douche to you.

Well, his only motivation is stealing the priceless artifact before the villain does it first. Oh, and his wisecracking is really annoying, especially since he does while ending the lives of those around him. But if you really want to know...There's a swimming pool at the top of the Hotel in the city level. Jump into it, and then out of it. Once you do, TRY to make it through the next 10 seconds or so without flinching. It's impossible.

Again, I LOVE the games, but I reeeeally hate Nathan Drake.

 

[Kapol]

I'm going to say that it's hard to beat Kratos from God of War 2 + 3. The first one was pretty good with him as a character (though I still didn't care for it as I don't care for hack-n-slashers). The rest... he just decides to murder everyone. He doesn't care that his actions kill thousands, if not millions, of innocent people. All he cares about is getting his own way, and that makes him an unlikeable asshole to me.

 

[Nilsenator]

I would say Tidus or Samus in Other M, but that just feels redundant at this point. Kratos in GoW 2 and 3 comes to mind. Oh, and Sonic. Just Sonic.

 

[Tselis]

It seems there are alot of people here who might have really liked the opening of Uncharted 2.

 

[Safaia]

Final Fantasy X. So much. I don't think there are any characters in the game I like less than him. An arrogant whiny idiot with a nasal voice. Bwuh!

First person that I thought of too though Squall in VIII is a close second.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

Well, his only motivation is stealing the priceless artifact before the villain does it first. Oh, and his wisecracking is really annoying, especially since he does while ending the lives of those around him. But if you really want to know...There's a swimming pool at the top of the Hotel in the city level. Jump into it, and then out of it. Once you do, TRY to make it through the next 10 seconds or so without flinching. It's impossible.

You can't really take points away from a wisecracking protagonist if they crack wise after murdering someone... because that's part of what you do in a game, or read about in comics, or see in movies. Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & clank, Spider-Man, John McClane, and even Batman (sometimes) all crack wise after, or shortly before, murdering someone. And those are just off the top of my head.

And it's been a while since I played Uncharted 1 or 2, but I'm pretty sure he had other motivations. It might've been his initial motivation (you know, because he's a treasure hunter), but if someone saves the world, can ya really call them a douchebag just because their initial intentions were to steal something? People change, and that makes Drake all the more believable.

Seems to me like you're grasping at straws for reasons to hate him, but to each their own.

Oh, and sorry for going off topic...

 

[Magicmad5511]

I'm gonna say Silver from Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. I'd say he counts as a main character since you play as him for 1/3 of the game.

He's just a prissy little wimp. While Sonic and Shadow use their own bodies as weapons, Silver uses telekinesis. He also has a badly put in minor love/friend thing and he he was difficult to play as.

The whole prissy teen thing really reminds me of someone though....

Oh yeah, also

Raiden from MGS2. Prissy teen and nowhere near as as cool as Snake. Snake fights an army of Metal Gear Rays and Raiden fights one man in a rooftop. At least in later games he becomes a cyborg ninja though.

Edit: I has been pointed out I'm wrong about Snake fighting Rays and it was actually Raiden. I haven't played it in a long time an my memory isn't holding up. Gonna have to play that though when I get my Playstation 2 two hooked up again.

 

[JesterRaiin]

So my question is this, have you ever played a game where you end up liking a supporting character more than the lead?

Mass Effect. I really can't stand Commander Sheppard with his poor acting skills and dead flat voice. I'd rather control any other NPC from his crew. :|

 

[Wuggy]

Kratos (from GoW 2 onwards) - An angry douche who just ends up doing unnecessary collateral damage because of his daddy issues (issues he totally deserves by the way).

Kane and Lynch - Just two obnoxious d-wads.

Nathan Drake - A wisecracking, supposedly "flawed" everyday guy who's really is a mass-murderer.

 

[Phishfood]

Kratos (from GoW 2 onwards) - An angry douche who just ends up doing unnecessary collateral damage because of his daddy issues (issues he totally deserves by the way).

Kane and Lynch - Just two obnoxious d-wads.

Nathan Drake - A wisecracking, supposedly "flawed" everyday guy who's really is a mass-murderer.

Totally ninjad.

God, Kane and Lynch have NOTHING going for them. At all.

 

[darth.pixie]

Hated both Hawke and Shepard to the point where I wanted to kill them both and repeatedly got them killed. Hated Nero in DMC 4 and Alex Mercer. Oh and the Prince from PoP 4.

 

[Balls Mandingo]

Oh, just remembered one that takes the cake.

"50 Cent: Blood On The Sand"

That is all.

 

[LilithSlave]

I dislike any macho seeming main characters. So that would mean...

Duke of Duke Nukem. Definitely. I don't even know how people can even like Duke Nukem ironically.

Also Kratos of God of War. Pointlessly violent. Macho. Annoying.

 

[Voulan]

Who doesn't prefer Auron over Tidus?

Other than that blatantly obvious example, I'll nominate Riku over Sora in Kh: Chain of Memories. I love them both, of course, but Riku's story was faaar better.

I also preferred Harry Flynn to Nathan Drake in Uncharted 2. Just because his personality was better, and at least he acknowledged his heartless side.

 

[Fanfic_warper]

Kratos from every god of war game, The main guy from Gears of War, Master Chief from Halo, Lara croft in Every Tomb Raider, the main characters in Bioshock 1 and 2, almost every character from Final Fantasy VII, Sothe from Fire Emblem Raidiant Dawm, Garcia "Fucking" Hotspur from Shadows of the Damned, Chris from Resident Evil 4, EVERYONE from the FEAR series, Issac Clarke from Dead Space, Duke Nukem from all his games, Dante and Vergil from Devil May Cry series, Link from every Zelda game and finally the main guy in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas....

Yeah I think that covers it.

 

[Zhukov]

Well, you kind of ninja'd me there with Marcus. I'm not exactly crazy about the rest of the Gears cast, but at least they have some sort of established personalities. Cole is loud and boisterous, Baird is sarcastic, Dom is, uh, well... never mind. But Marcus, ugh, he's got absolutely nothing behind that perma-scowl.

Then there's Nathan Drake. You big cocky prick, you're not funny, please shut up. Also, you murdered that Egyptian museum guard for absolutely no reason. You monster.

Alex Mercer from Prototype. I don't even know what they were going for with him, but I sure hope I wasn't expected to like him.

Lastly, Riddick from the Chronicles of Riddick games. Tries way too hard to be badass. There's one point where he comes across a frightened child hiding in a vent. He starts growling one-liners at her. I promptly jumped his dumb arse of a cliff a few times for being such a callous bastard.

 

[b3nn3tt]

I'll have to agree with the people that said Alex Mercer. He spends the entire game seeking 'revenge' only to find out that

Spoiler

everything was his fault anyway

. This is most ridiculous when he's driving a tank through crowds of people chasing Taggart and says something along the lines of 'you made me do this'. Just no.

The other protagonist I can think of that I don't like is Gordon Freeman. Obviously it's part of being a silent protagonist, but I hate that he never says anything when people tell him to do every single thing. So many times I was thinking 'well why don't you do that?' I know it's because he's meant to know what he's doing but it would be nice if he said no once in a while.